Lily and James did such a good job of making Albus birthday a happy day for him. Very well done. I'm glad Lily spoke up and said she helped with the pranks for his birthday. They did make him smile. The progress of trying to recue Scorpius is finally getting somewhere. They did a good job of finding the place after Scorpius message about what hit looked like from where he was. Now all they have to do is rescue him and hopefully find and capture the Matron and her accomplises. Thanks for writing. A very good series of events and well presented. Thanks again. I look forward to Thurs. I've had a hectic week. Hopefully this one will be better. p

ArnelWednesday 26th October 2011 13:07

29: Birthday (Author Response)

It seems the pranks make many of my readers smile as broadly as Albus is at the end of breakfast. And yes, Lily knows she needs to speak up so that Albus knows she was involved in his present. Otherwise, James is likely to take all the credit, even if he doesn't mean to.

The rest of the day (this part of the timeline is just the morning) will be devoted to Scorpius' rescue and the apprehension of the Matron and her cronies.

Dear Arnel,
thanks for the prank story, nice touch to have the "no education" sang by Ravenclaw. I am surprised how the kitchen elf could be so nonchalant about a prank.
There were two unfinished leads to Scorpius here: one is Albus and his being friends, though there was no mention of it before. The other was (in an earlier chapter) Rose mourning Scorpius so hard, albeit not knowing him. How is it possible that Rose does not know a friend of Albus? Will there be any further developments in the relationship Rose, Scorpius and Albus?
If Ron is heading the rescue mission, I expect some change in the relationship between Ron and Draco, too.
And I hope to see more of Harry, too...

ArnelSunday 23rd October 2011 15:48

29: Birthday (Author Response)

You're welcome. I thought the "no education" song by Pink Floyd would be appropriate for the most studious students in the Great Hall to sing. Lily did have some fancy talking to do to convince Calla to let her dip all the forks in her potion, we just had the glimpse of her finishing her task. Since the prank wasn't vicious in any way, I think Lily had an easy time of convincing the house-elf to let her do it.

Just so you know, since chapter 25 I've been dropping hints that Albus and Scorpius are friends. In twenty-five, Albus stares pensively out the compartment window and says that he hopes the kidnappers don't hurt Scorpius. If the two were enemies, I'm sure he would have said something more on the "good riddance" thought. In chapter twenty-seven, when James finds Lily in the common room in order to begin planning Albus' birthday pranks, James tells her that Albus is as distraught over Scorpius' kidnapping as Rose is. I don't think Albus would be this upset if the two weren't friends. As for Rose, in chapter twenty-seven she admits that she misses him because he's her Potions partner and that she's distraught because no one knows where he is. Of course, it helps that she has a crush on him, too. You'll just have to wait like everyone else to see if there's more about her relationship with Scorpius and his friendship with Albus.

You asked if there will be a change in Ron's attitude towards Draco. I'll say yes to that because in chapter twenty-two there's already been a change: he's decided to put aside their differences and accept Draco as an acquaintance.

I encourage you to stick with the story to its conclusion. There will be more of each of the characters, so please be patient. Thanks for reading. I look forward to your next review.

All in good time! The timeline for the last two and the following two is extremely tight because there are so many people doing so many things. Now that Albus is happy again, it's time to make Draco and Asteria happy too with the return of Scorpius. Thanks for writing to me. Until next week...

Bravo! Bravo! Take a bow! You deserve a standing ovation for the little gem of a chapter! The pranks were pure genius and went off perfectly! Quite a party in the Great Hall! The whole sequence nearly put me on the floor laughing! Was also glad to see Ginny talking to a professional to help her deal with things - many people don't realized how difficult a situation like Harry's is on the family and how hard it is for them to cope with the changes! I dealt with a similar situation 5 years ago watching my brother's last month before brain cancer took him - watching the devastating changes in his health and his growing dependance on his family as his body slowly failed him! It was difficult and it helped me to talk to friends about my feelings of helplessness! Nice cliffy at the end there with Ginny just starting her session! Glad to see the Aurors planning a rescue for Scorpius but I hope they hurry since the poor guy is still out there hanging on that cliff, like the rest of us!

ArnelFriday 21st October 2011 23:46

29: Birthday (Author Response)

I certainly can't take all the credit for the pranks because the ideas I used were Rosina Ferguson's and Hedwig_edgwig's: I just made them fit into the story. The fun part was choosing the songs the houses would sing. I'm glad you found them fun, too.

Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I've discovered that many of my readers identify with one or more of the characters having worked with patients like Harry and Brian or they have gone through something similar or know someone who has been challenged and has gone on to create a new life for him or herself. Each story is unique and has touched me in one way or another.

By the way, I didn't mean for Ginny's meeting to be a cliffhanger, at least not in the sense that I've left my readers hanging in other chapters. What I wanted to convey was that she'd made the important step of talking to someone and she was feeling relief because she'd just been told Mr Hale wanted to work with her.

I keep meaning to review this, but since I normally read updates on my phone I end up missing my chance every week - but this week, I absolutely had to. You know why!

I've been really enjoying your story - it's not quite what I usually go for, but you've clearly done your research. Harry and Ginny's emotional journey has been lovely, and I'm thrilled Harry is recovering (I had faith you wouldn't do anything too permanent to our hero)! My heart skipped a beat when Scorpius was kidnapped, and I'm enjoying all the glimpses of the next generation - and I have a request! I really enjoyed Ginny and her brothers at Christmas, can we have more of Ginny interacting with her family/extended family? That would be fun.

Calla (the house elf!)

P.S. I think this is the first time I've seen my name in anything, ever,. I had a bit of a squee on the train this morning reading this chapter! C.

ArnelSunday 23rd October 2011 17:26

29: Birthday (Author Response)

Calla,

My favorite name for a house-elf is Calla. She's named for two people: you and one of my former piano students who I think is about your age now.

You will get your glimpse of Ginny interacting with her brothers, but you'll have to wait until the Epilogue: there's just too much to sum up until that particular chapter. I hope you'll keep reading on your phone to see how everything turns out.

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